Soft drink dispensers are widely used to dispense drinks in a variety of establishments. Fast-food outlets, roadside convenience stores, re-fueling stations, and cafeterias are examples of locations involving high volume consumption of soft drinks. Because of the high volume, these dispensers must have sophisticated systems for storing and delivering the components expected in a soft drink: ice, water (carbonated or non-carbonated), and syrup, the latter two in a properly-mixed proportion. Water and syrup should be cooled before being dispensed, and ice must be made or at least delivered in large quantities. Such high volume dispensers require considerable installation time and tend to be large and expensive, with undercounter or backroom storage of pressurized syrup tanks and associated tubing, and heat exchangers chilling the water and syrup to the precisely desired degree in time for dispensing and serving.
A facility with lower volume requirements does not need such an expensive and sophisticated system, but may still wish to deliver the authentic taste of a freshly-mixed (xe2x80x9cpost-mixedxe2x80x9d) carbonated or non-carbonated drink. In this case what is needed is a low-volume soft-drink dispenser, costing much less and requiring less of a xe2x80x9cfootprintxe2x80x9d area for its placement on the floor of a kitchen, a cafeteria or a break area. What is needed is a low-volume soft drink dispenser, delivering post-mixed soft drinks made from syrup and carbonated or non-carbonated water. The dispenser should deliver the drinks chilled as customers prefer, and should also provide an amount of ice desired by a customer or user with the drink.
In order to address these deficiencies of the prior art, a low volume soft drink dispenser has been invented. In a first aspect of the invention, a beverage dispenser includes a housing. An ice bin is in the housing and there is at least one heat exchanger within the housing in thermal contact with the ice bin. Within the housing is space configured to receive at least one container of beverage syrup. There is also a carbonator within the housing for making carbonated water, and at least one mixing and dispensing valve for mixing and dispensing carbonated water and syrup. The dispenser is configured to receive ice, syrup, water and carbon dioxide, chill the water and the syrup by exchanging heat with melting ice. The mixing valve mixes the syrup and carbonated water and dispenses a soft drink.
A second aspect of the invention is a beverage dispenser in a housing. Within the housing is a carbonation system, the carbonation system comprising a carbonator and a source of carbon dioxide. The beverage system also includes a water system, comprising a source of water and a charging pump for charging water to the carbonator, and a circulation pump for circulating water. The dispenser includes a cooling system, comprising an ice bin, a first heat exchanger for exchanging heat between ice in the ice bin and water, and circulating carbonated water produced by the carbonation system, and a second heat exchanger for exchanging heat between said syrup and said circulating carbonated water. The dispenser also includes a source of syrup, located in a space within the housing configured to receive at least one container of syrup. The dispenser also includes a dispensing system, comprising at least two mixing and dispensing valves and interconnecting lines between the valves, the source of water and the source of syrup. At least one of said two mixing and dispensing valves receives syrup and carbonated water.
In another aspect, an embodiment of the invention is a method of producing and dispensing a beverage, the method comprising cooling water through ice in thermal contact with a first heat exchanger and circulating said water through a second heat exchanger; cooling syrup in the second heat exchanger; mixing the cooled syrup and water to form a beverage; and dispensing the beverage.
Another aspect of the invention is a beverage dispenser comprising a tower heat exchanger and at least one mixing and dispensing valve connected to the tower heat exchanger. The tower heat exchanger comprises at least one coil of syrup tubing and at least one coil of cooling fluid tubing embedded within a metallic body, each coil having two ends protruding from the metallic body, the cooling fluid coil ends being connected to a source of circulating cooling fluid, and a first of said ends of the syrup tubing each being connected to a source of syrup. The at least one mixing and dispensing valve is connected to the tower heat exchanger, wherein a second of said ends of the syrup tubing are each connected to the mixing and dispensing valves.
Another aspect of the invention is a beverage dispensing tower. The beverage dispensing tower comprises a generally horizontal top bar on which a plurality of mixing and dispensing valves are attached and arranged to dispense a beverage generally downwardly. The tower also comprises two side supports holding the top bar in a raised position so that a cup can be placed under each of the mixing and dispensing valves. The tower has a generally inverted xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d shape such that the area under the top bar is open.
Another aspect of the invention is a beverage dispenser comprising a split heat exchanger having a first part and a second part. The dispenser has an ice bin in thermal contact with said first part and a pump circulating a cooling fluid between said first part and said second part. A source of beverage syrup is connected to the second part. The first part transfers heat from circulating cooling fluid to ice in the ice bin and the second part transfers heat from a beverage syrup to the circulating cooling fluid.
Another aspect of the invention is a beverage dispenser. The beverage dispenser comprises a heat exchanger comprising at least one tubing coil carrying syrup and at least one tubing coil carrying cooling fluid embedded within a metallic body, each coil having two ends protruding from the metallic body, the cooling fluid coil ends being connected to a source of circulating cooling fluid, a first of said ends of the syrup-tubing being connected to a source of syrup. The beverage dispenser also comprises at least one mixing and dispensing valve connected to the heat exchanger, the second of said ends of the syrup tubing being connected to said at least one mixing and dispensing valve, with water and the syrup being combined in the mixing and dispensing valve to produce a beverage. The beverage dispenser also comprises at least one beer tubing coil within said metallic body for cooling beer, one end of the beer coil connected to a source of beer and the other end connected to a dispensing valve connected to the heat exchanger.
Major advantages of preferred embodiments of the invention include quicker installation and less space required for installation. Such advantages may be realized at least partly because of smaller bag-in-box (BIB) containers, such as 3-gallon containers rather than 5-gallon containers. The dispenser housing, with BIB containers inside, reduces plumbing requirements, since volumetric ratio valves may be used rather than syrup pumps. Carbon dioxide may be supplied from a remote location, or may be placed within or on the housing to further reduce plumbing and installation costs.
Other advantages include the fact that beverage syrup in the preferred embodiments of these beverage dispensers is not under pressure, but flows to a driven volumetric ratio valve under the driving force of carbonated water driving a companion driving valve. This is only possible if the BIB containers are close to the volumetric ratio valve. Syrup for beverages is contained within a reservoir of tubing inside the cold plate heat exchanger. The syrup is kept cold for a low temperature casual draw as low as 36xc2x0 F. The cold plate may be made thinner or thicker as desired by designing the cooling and syrup coils for smaller or greater capacity, respectively.
The low volume beverage dispenser and the tower heat exchanger have other advantages. Because of the close proximity between the mixing and dispensing valves and the tower cold plate heat exchanger, there is virtually no dead space between the cooled syrup and the mixing and dispensing valves, less than 2 inches (5 cm). This enables a user to mix and dispense a cold drink even when the dispenser has not been used for a period of time. The tower heat exchanger also allows for a manifold of carbonate water that serves as many different mixing and dispensing valves as desired, again without the bother of separate lines or additional plumbing. Finally, the pairs of syrup coil ends and water/carbonated water coil or manifold connections are spaced apart in the tower heat exchanger for standard block valves and standard mixing and dispensing valves.